The Blackhawks love Nikita Zadorov.
If you get right down to it, that’s the biggest reason why they made their splashiest trade of the offseason, sending forward Brandon Saad as well as defenseman Dennis Gilbert to the Avalanche for Zadorov and fellow defense-man Anton Lindholm.
The Oct. 10 swap was widely criticized by reporters who see Zadorov as an average, middle-aged defenseman of lesser value than Saad and of little value to the Hawks’ youth-oriented rebuild.
But general manager Stan Bowman has a much different view. He sees a one-of-a-kind physical defenseman who not only fills a niche the Hawks desperately needed to fill but also — more important — will accelerate the development of the team’s elite young defensemen.
Zadorov, who’s 6-5 and 235 pounds, is indeed extremely physical, and he’s a left-handed shot. Expect to see him paired next season alongside Adam Boqvist or Ian Mitchell, the Hawks’ two blue-chip prospects, who both happen to be offensive-minded, right-handed shots.
“I could see Nikita being a great partner for either of them,” Bowman said. “Nikita is a defensive player; he’s not going to be leading the rush or trying to dive down and make a ton of offense that way. He’s a good passer, but he’s more skewed on the defensive side, so he would be a nice complement to the young guys we have.
“Last year, we saw Adam take some hits, and I think teams target smaller guys to get them off their game. That’s something we want to make sure doesn’t happen going forward.”
The process that led to Zadorov’s acquisition was long and intensive. It started when the Hawks determined they would not re-sign Saad, who has one year left on his contract at a $6 million cap hit and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. The decision stemmed from a desire to create more cap flexibility and a belief that Saad would demand at least $6 million for his next deal, too.
“When you make that decision, then you have to say, ‘OK, it would be bad asset management to just play the season out with Brandon and let him go,’ ” Bowman said. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if we did that.
“So then you have a couple things you can do. You can trade him now, or you can keep him and trade him during the season or at the trade deadline.”
The trade deadline route made Bowman nervous for two reasons: an in-season injury or downturn in play could reduce Saad’s value, or the pool of teams looking to buy at the deadline could be small.
So Bowman instead put Saad on the trade market. He didn’t name any specific teams, but the Bruins were rumored to be another potential suitor.
“When we talked to some of the teams that were interested in Saad over the last month, this was by far the best return that we were offered,” he said. “The marketplace right now is what it is. The market tells you what your player is worth.
“We ask for a lot of things in these types of trades and it doesn’t go anywhere. When we talked to Colorado and Nikita’s name came up, that really interested us.”
Nearly two weeks after the trade, three pressing questions are hard to overlook.
First, why did the Hawks not look to acquire draft picks or prospects — assets typically more associated with a rebuild — instead of an established player?
Bowman said he sees “nothing wrong with that type of return,” but given how quickly the Hawks hope to execute this rebuild, he felt less inclined to pursue players who would only be helpful “three years down the road.”
Next, why did the Hawks not shift their focus toward trading Saad at the deadline, since the market was underwhelming? Bowman didn’t give an explicit response to that question, but then again, he clearly considers Zadorov a more-than-sufficient return.
And why, exactly, do the Hawks value Zadorov, 25, so much more than Saad, 27, despite their narrow age difference? That partially comes down to the fact that Zadorov, who signed a one-year extension the day the trade went through, will be a restricted free agent again next offseason, while Saad will be unrestricted.
In the end, the logic essentially traces back to the Hawks’ affection for Zadorov. Bowman even went so far as to compare him to Duncan Keith.
“We think [Zadorov’s] best years are ahead of him, and we like the element he brings,” Bowman said. “That’s why, for us, we saw a much different impact for this upcoming season and seasons to come for Zadorov than we do for Saad.”
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October 22, 2020 at 11:39PM
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Blackhawks trade: Inside story of the Brandon Saad-Nikita Zadorov swap - Chicago Sun-Times
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